•What is the composition of the under-layer of the 'European' strings? A copper coating (what looks like copper) must have been applied to the basic string before it was wound with copper. Pure copper or anywhere near pure copper will not withstand the strain on a high tension string, .especially wh...

•As Steve Bentley most correctly pointed out, it's immaterial if the piano is a player or not -- sound is sound. Player pianos have long suffered slights by those who think the player mechanism "hampers" the piano's natural sound and playing. Many tuners dislike having to work around the player mech...

•I think you folks misunderstood my earlier post about steel and copper. Perhaps it is because we also made bass strings and the terminology was common to us. I should have gone into more detail. There are two types of bass strings in a piano: single wound and double wound. All have a steel wire cor...

•A few responders to this thread have said essentially "stick to what the makers did in olden times, for they surely knew best". However, there is at least one reference book from olden time that flatly contradicts this, with explicit reasons. This was written by Samuel Wolfenden, chief piano design...

•Thanks for the clarification, Bernt Damm. I would agree that it is probably a waste of time to try to rejuvenate a steel wound bass string; the rust between the coils would be most difficult to "break loose". Actually I wonder just how good they sounded when new! As for changing the specs, I have s...

•Whilst computer and scientifically designed strings seem the most correct choice, they will also result in every piano having the same type of scientific sound. Dreadful and boring in my opinion, just like all new pianos. It is especially the non-scientific imperfections of original design (Mensur)...

•Many piano manufacturers put wrapped strings in the low tenor as an effort to ease into a different sort of tonality produced from wrapped strings in the bass. Larger pianos with longer strings seem not to have such a requirement, provided the last few tenor bridge notes are on a similar area of so...

•I have completed restoration of a late model Violano. It plays and sounds great except for the A-string. The effect is a poor, raspy sound when played. I am at my wits end on what to do next. The only string I am having a problem with is the A-string. The corrective action is to push up slightly on...

•I am a middle school music teacher and have much experience with helping beginning violinists learn to adjust the bow angle, pressure, and speed in such a way as to prevent screeching. I am hoping that the similarity will solve the problem with the A-string on your instrument. The bow speed needs t...

•I am currently having a final push, working with renewed interest on the roll and disc catalogues I have been compiling for 30+ years and have been making available on Mechanical Music Digest and the Musical Box Society G.B. website in the Tune Lists section. I recently found an original tune catal...

•Richard Moody has the right approach: re-scale. Including half sizes in the scale will smooth out the tension. Baldwin's second lines were Hamilton, and Acrosonic; then Sargent and Monarch. For production reasons let's say "a little expense was spared", even if it were just to save time with freque...

•Monarch is not mentioned by name in the book, "A Guide to Restringing", but Hamilton is, on page 125. When I de-strung a 1929 Monarch I found the scale to be the same, and ditto with an old Howard. If you have this book, note how Baldwin used the same scale on both 54-inch and 45-inch pianos. The B...

•Earlier this evening, here in London, England, I visited with a fellow with a Violano in need of a full set of strings. He asked me if I would appeal to the group for the name, address, etc., of a likely source of such strings. Thanks. Regards, Terry Terry Smythe smythe@mts.net 55 Rowand Avenue (20...

•Terry, Schaff Piano Supply 451 Oakwood Road Lake Zurich, Illinois 60047-1570 [zip code adjusted by the editor] 847-438-4556 847-438-4615 FAX [telephone area code adjusted by the editor] They have been making strings for the Violano for years. They should be able to do it without having the original...

•There are as many opinions about Violano strings as there are Violano owners. Two gentlemen sell strings for the Violano by mail, and I have experience with both who are reliable. Mr. Terry Haughawout manufactures and markets replacement parts for just about every white metal part in the machine. H...

•Hi Terry, I have a Violano too. The persons who put me on to some really good strings are Ralph & Gloria Schack. Since they read the MMD, I am sure one of them will respond with the strings and a place to order them from in the U.S. If your friend doesn't want to order them from here, the strings s...

•I have tried a lot of sets violin strings and found the best setup for my machine: I'm using Ralph Schultz's bow wheels (broken in). I use for A and E strings plain steel guitar strings, .010" and .014". For D and G strings I'm using the Helicore by D'Addario; seems to work the best. These strings ...

•I was fortunate in having a friend who was a professional Blue-grass fiddler who donated his used strings for my Violanos. They were fine quality fiddle strings available at any of several nearby good music supply stores. There is really nothing special about them except that they were not the "el ...

•To show how experts disagree on restoration, I am offering two quotes. The first is from the excellent book on Violano restoration by Mike Kitner and Art Reblitz: "D and G strings: "Super Sensitive" brand, medium tone steel core wound strings (and other brands of similar strings) can be tuned prope...

•The original strings used by Mills were steel and needed considerable weight to tune them. If working on a machine with the original unaltered weight buckets, only steel will tune properly. On the Violanos I have worked on, including my own, I have used wound strings with gut core, but the lead in ...